My friend's looking for his 1st caravan and I've been giving him some pointers. He's on the hunt for a decent nick but old unit with fixed bunks and small toilet/shower. Something like the Bailey Ranger 550 about 2003. He has 4-5k to spend.
So he calls me last night all excited about a 560 Ranger 2010.... immaculate..... been stored inside..... £4k on Ebay! Less than half price is obviously too good to be true..... I messaged the seller anyway and since last night the ad is gone and I got no reply.
So then I had a look at autotrader and caravan club classifieds and there again are all these vans that should be £8-£10k advertised for £4k??? I'm of the opinion that if it looks too good to be true then it is! But what are these people really after? Suck you in and sell you something else for your £4k.... or is it a plain and simple scam?
Correct, they are all scams. The pictures are lifted from previous legit listings. If 'seller' does contact then the scam involves getting buyer to pay money without actually seeing caravan first & nobody is that stupid, surely?
I also had people offer to buy my van without seeing it, with extra added for shipping it to France. I said cash in hand only and likewise never heard a thing afterwards.
I despise scammers
------------- Who needs travel agents,we have our static
I had my VW campervan advertised locally and in Autotrader for a month without any enquiries,it was advertised at what I thought was a low price to get a quick sale as I had already ordered the caravan and didn't have room for both.
It was in excellent condition it was 10 years old and a genuine 21000 miles.
I was about to reconcile myself to cancelling the caravan and keeping the campervan till I had a phone call asking if I still had the van but he thought the mileage was wrong and should have been 121000 miles.He drove 110 miles that day and paid the asking price n cash.
The moral of the story they aren't necessarily all scams!
saxo1
The nature of the scam as described in the op is that invariably on contact 'seller' will reply with some sort of 'story' that involves buyer paying the money for a(non existent)caravan with promise of delivery of caravan at a later date.
The pictures will have been lifted from a previous legitimate ad for a caravan already sold. These ads appear all the time over all sales platforms. Ebay etc, do seem to look out for them & take them down quite quickly so they are perfectly aware of these scams.
The advice should always be that caravan should be inspected first at seller's premises. If caravan is later model, it should be checked clear with Cris before money is paid. If foreign make it may not be Cris reg but seller should be able to product receipts etc to show they acquired caravan legally.
This scam method is used for all sorts, cars etc, not just caravans.
Buyers should also avoid scenarios that involve meeting seller on motorway services etc to do deal & also be aware that buyers have been lured to 'sellers' address & beaten up & robbed of the several £1000s that they have brought to pay for the 'bargain'.
Good way to check on scammers is to use Chrome as your browser, right click on the picture and select "search google for image". Good thing to do with most thing you are buying online, cars, villa rentals etc.
Hi all, the saying is true, " if it sounds too good to be true, it is." Many cheapy caravans out there have been damaged in some way or an other. Accident then bodged, water ingress, or in many cases following the recent flooding, vans will be dried out then sold on to unsuspecting buyers. When looking, let your nose go in first. Damp, dogs, smokers and too many sweaty bodies,. If you do enter don't be afraid to lift all the bunks, open cupboards, have a bit of a bounce on the floor, front back and centre, don't forget to look up for damp at the seams, especially in the wardrobe . Check around window seals, the facia below the main front window for mildew, the chassis and under flooring is also very important so take along some old clothing, get mucky, it's your hard earned cash at stake here. Finally, if the seller is reluctant to let you look around alone, take a second inspection. Good look. Sedburgh.
A good friend of mine had his trike for sale, at the same time on ebay it was advertised for half amount. Some scammer had copied the pics and details.
Friend called him and reported to ebay, hw was also selling bikes, tractors, speed boats, jetskies, caravans, motorhomes and loads of other kit that people use as hobbies.
All half the going price. The idea is to sucker you into paying a deposit OR if mug enough the full amount to hold it.
It will be difficult to see in a remote location with quite possibly the owner working off shore and not able to get there for a bit. They play on the massive pull of the BARGIN to get people to part with their money.
I had a saved search on Gumtree for a Versys motorbike and one came up, VERY good value for age and milage. Email only as working off shore. It was in Glasgow and I said thats handy as I am there tomorrow....turned out he forgot it was in Edinborough.... two emails and I knew it was a scam.
Another friend was selling his trike and had numerous offers for the full amount, trike would be collected by courier and money put in a PayPal storage account till new owner seen it........Almost no one will pay full price without seeing the goods so again a total scam.
I have bought several items, inclusing my trailer tent over the phone, had it delived to point mid way at a services. BUT only after numerous phone calls to sus out oner, get more photos that I specifically asked for (this way you know they have the goods) and then agreed a fee for the part delivery. I am in N.Ireland and the Montana was in London...
Trust only thouse you get a good feel for. Helps if you can check out their FB account and see photos and good comments of the goods as well.
Sold a trike the same way. Had full money deposited before riding it to Liverpool to deliver it. We are still friends on FB and chat all the time.
SO, if it looks to good to be true, BE VERY CAREFUL, but it may be genuine as someone may not know what they have or need rid of it in a hurry. BUT take care, talk to the owner, get more photos showing specific stuff you ask for to check they have goods. See if you can get them to friend you on FB and check out their photos, esp if the item is in any of them. For Caravns, MH and Tents they likely will be in holiday photos. Talk to them and if you get a genuine feel proceed with caution. See if they are in a club and join it, ask questions on the sites pages and if the item is dodgy someone will likely PM you as they wont want a new member stung with a dud.
All in Gumtree and Ebay are great but BEWARE.
I got my TT on preloved and the Tents on Gumtree locally.
------------- if your not living life on the edge your taking up tooo much room
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Topic: Super Cheap Must Be Scams Right?
